The third part of our series on 400 years of UK-Japan relations covers a summit on William Adams, the first Englishman in Japan
ANNIVERSARY
Legends and Facts
The third part of our series on 400 years of UK-Japan relations covers a summit on William Adams, the first Englishman in Japan
By Julian Ryall Photos: Hirado City Hall
• Shipwreck survivor is well regarded here
• Call to reappraise some of his traditional tale
• Story has gaps, inconsistencies, ambiguities
• Plans to remake the Shogun mini-series
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little over 403 years after William Adams became the first Englishman to set foot on Japanese soil, the contribution that he made to Anglo – Japanese relations has been celebrated at the inaugural Anjin Summit held in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture.
Part of the Japan400 series of events marking four centuries of Japan – Britain ties, the two-day summit was hosted by the town that had cemented ties with the
UK after having become a trading post for the East India Company. The organisers announced that the summit would, henceforth, be an annual event, and that its location would rotate among the four Japanese towns with which Adams is most closely connected.
“ Like many of my generation, I first came to Japan as a research student with a copy of James Clavell’ s Shogun in hand”, said 59-year-old Dr Richard Irving, a professor at the Kwansei Gakuin University School of Policy Studies in Hyogo Prefecture.
“ A year or so later, I found a copy of PG Rodgers’ The First Englishman in Japan in a Barnsley [ South Yorkshire ] market for 40p”, Irving recalled.“ My interest in Adams has been maintained ever since. Over the years, one or two interesting new perspectives on his life have emerged from my studies”.
Among the dignitaries at the Anjin Summit was British Consul-General in Osaka Simon Fisher.
According to history, Adams was aboard the Dutch ship Liefde that was shipwrecked in April 1600 off Usuki, in what is now Oita Prefecture. Initially threatened with execution by Portuguese Jesuit priests, the crew were imprisoned at Osaka Castle on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the daimyo of Edo and future shogun.
Adams reportedly met Ieyasu three times during the summer of 1600, and impressed him sufficiently with his knowledge of ships, shipbuilding and nautical mathematics that the two men became friends.
As well as the mayors of Hirado and Usuki, the leaders of Yokosuka, in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture, attended Hirado’ s Anjin Summit.
Ito is where Adams built two modern ships to add to Ieyasu’ s fleet, which had been destroyed in a devastating tsunami that occurred in February 1605. The site of Adams’ estate, granted to him by the shogun out of gratitude for all his assistance and advice, is located in Yokosuka.
Professor Irving, who took part in the summit panel discussions, said there always have been gaps in people’ s understanding of Adams’ story, as well as numerous inconsistencies. He is currently working on a new book, describing Adam’ s life and times.
The main speaker at the summit was Reverend Henmi from Yokosuka, who is the head priest at the temple next to the site where Adams’ house stood after he was granted an estate by the shogun. After Adams’ death, his Japanese wife became a nun at the temple.
“ My own conclusion would be that parts of the traditional story concerning Adams should be questioned, and that this summit is an ideal opportunity to initiate a reappraisal of his life and times”, Irving said.
“ This includes not only his personal background, but also the people and events surrounding him after his arrival in Japan”.
The scale of the inaugural event is evidence of the regard that Japanese, even today, have for a man who history books here still call“ anjin Adams”( sea-going pilot Adams).
24 | BCCJ ACUMEN | JUNE 2013